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A crane supports a column at Huntington Park after a concrete footer sank at the ballpark. A plumbing contractor's work is being checked.

Ballpark damage prompts search for the cause -

A second-story floor is cracked and a crane is holding up a steel supporting column at Huntington Park after a concrete footer sank over the weekend, causing an undetermined amount of damage to the new home of the Clippers.

"There is a structural issue, and they're working on it right now," said Tina Guegold, spokeswoman for Nationwide Realty Investors. As the owner's representative for Franklin County, Nationwide is guiding construction of the $55 million ballpark in its Arena District back yard.

Structural engineers were scrambling over the ballpark late yesterday to determine how the damage was caused. A plumbing contractor had been digging a trench by the footer late Saturday to install drainage pipes that will carry waste cooking oil from food vendors to a disposal tank.

Renee Colbert, a manager for W.G. Tomko Inc., said everything was fine when its plumbing crew left that night. When workers returned early Monday, they found "the dirt under the column had eroded away and there was a significant amount of water around."

The steel column now must be braced by a crane, and the concrete slab it supports is cracked. That slab is the floor of the right-field building; the affected section will house marketing and ticket offices.

Colbert said they're unsure whether Tomko is at fault or the damage stems from a flaw in the design or materials used for the stadium. Or maybe, she said, it's an "act of God" from the rainstorm on Saturday. She said a project manager told her that the repair would be finished and the column stabilized by Friday.

Tomko will pay the repair bill if it is at fault, County Administrator Don L. Brown said. He said the stadium is on schedule to open on time next spring.

Brown said he's working closely with Turner Construction, the project's construction manager, to investigate the supervision at the site over the weekend.

Tomko's hiring in January for $2.6 million prompted a lawsuit against commissioners by TP Mechanical Inc., an Ohio-based competitor that submitted the lowest bid. TP Mechanical was disqualified for state wage violations it described as "minor." It lost its case and is appealing.

County Commissioner Paula Brooks cast the only vote against hiring Tomko after discovering that its president had resigned after a tax-fraud conviction. The company later lost a lawsuit for failing to pay a veteran's pension.

She now wants a written report on the damage.

"This realizes my fears," Brooks said. "I think our construction manager and our owners' rep are going to have to go back over everything they've done, if all this is true, and make sure (Tomko) did it right."

Colbert said Tomko also wants a thorough investigation and "looks forward to the expert's report and determination."